The Powerhouse is an all-ages interactive science center located on the banks of the Animas River in Durango, Colorado. Visitors are invited to explore science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts through permanent and traveling exhibitions in a welcoming environment that nurtures curiosity, imagination and play.
This year and the next, the Powerhouse will commemorate the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 14 mission and Durango-born astronaut Stuart Roosa, Command Module pilot on this third crewed mission to the moon. Roosa, a former smoke jumper with the U.S. Forest Service, carried a small canister holding 500 tree seeds aboard the Kitty Hawk orbiter. The seeds orbited the moon 34 times before being brought back to Earth for germination and became known as the Moon Trees. Many were distributed across the country as part of the United States’ Bicentennial in 1976, and The Powerhouse is proud to welcome its own Moon Tree to Durango as part of our anniversary celebration. This American sycamore tree celebrates the next steps in human space exploration and serves as a symbol of inspiration.
The Powerhouse is also hosting the Apollo 14 Speaker Series, a live event accessed via Facebook Live (@powscicenter). Hosted the second Sunday of the month at 4:30 p.m. through May 2021, speakers in the series will represent a wide range of expertise in spaceflight, engineering and astronomy. November will feature professors Callie Cole and Charles Hakes from Fort Lewis College on Observing Space from Earth and December will feature astronomers Mary Nancyboy and David Begay presenting Navajo Skies. 2021 Speaker Series topics include the Apollo program, Colorado’s aerospace industry, Observing Earth from Space, and From the Moon to Mars.
Visit The Powerhouse from October through April for a series of moon and Apollo-themed special exhibitions. A Smithsonian-developed exhibit featuring high resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter opens October 31 and Apollo artifacts from the Johnson Space Center–including lunar rock models, an EMU spacesuit and the hatch from an Apollo Command Module–follow three months later on January 31.
For more information on the Apollo 14 Mission Speaker Series and exhibition, please visit the Powerhouse Science Center’s website at www.powsci.org and their Facebook page. Stay curious!
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